Quality Indicator #2: Informed Choice and Control

The opportunity to make choices concerning employment, living arrangements, and recreation has been limited or nonexistent for many individuals with disabilities (Gilson, 1998). It has become increasingly evident that the powerlessness and lack of direction frequently felt by people with disabilities are related to attitudes and practices of service providers, care givers, funding agencies, and society in general, rather than any true limitations as a result of an individual's disability (Brooke, Wehman, Inge and Parent, 1995; Wehman, 1981; Browder et al, 2001).

High quality supported employment programs avoid this trap by empowering their customers to make choices and to take control of their career path. A critical factor in assessing the overall quality of a supported employment program is analyzing the data to determine if the customers of the service have choice over the process and are truly in control of their rehabilitation outcomes. Organizations that support choice and control shape their service delivery practices by the wants and needs of their customers. Key features or quality indicators of a supported employment program would assess informed choice and control by reviewing the following indicators to determine the level of involvement by customers:Who selected the service provider?

Who selected the job coach?

Who selected the job?

Does the customer like the job?

Is the customer satisfied with the service?

Is the customer able and willing to retain the job?

Customers of supported employment must be in a position to not only choose their service provider and employment support personnel, but to also have some measure of control over the services they seek. Supported employment customers must be free to participate in supported employment services by choosing a service provider and employment specialist, by accepting or declining a specific job, or by electing to resign or continue employment with a particular company without fear of reprisal.

Informed choice and control must be a key feature to any employment support service assisting people with significant disabilities in their search for employment. Customer choice is a core principle of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (Public Law 105-202) that established the one stop career centers. Customer choice is also a core principle of the Social Security Administration's Ticket to Work established by the, The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-170).